Discover The Wechat Empire in China

Everybody talks about Wechat. Wechat is so useful. Wechat is the place to be. You can do all you want on Wechat. Wechat for companies it’s the best tool.

But you? Do you really know Wechat? I am pretty sure that you know the tip of the iceberg but not all the amazing functions of the app.

I will explain to you all you need to know about this famous app to develop your business strategy in China.

THE MAIN FUNCTIONS OF WECHAT

Before all, I think it’s important to give you some figures to help you to understand the power of Wechat if you are not still convinced.

Wechat is the app the most used in China with around 700 million users. Due to all the functions the app provide, Wechat becomes a part of Chinese’s lives.

– 94% of Chinese users use Wechat every day.

– Chinese users open Wechat more than 10 times a day on average.

I hope now you are convinced that Wechat is the key for all businesses.

Let’s get into the heart of the subject: the main functions of Wechat.

WECHAT AS A COMMUNICATION TOOL

Instant messages

At the beginning, Wechat was an instant messaging platform. Chinese people use the platform every day to send a message to their relatives. An average of 70 messages is sent per each Chinese user every day.

Chineses use Wechat to chat with their friends and family; but also for work or leisure.

Lots of Wechat group are created every day like friends groups for an event like a birthday, work team group, sports group to sign up for a sports class… All these groups are created because Wechat is the best way to communicate quickly. Because it’s instant messages, you can speak in real time. It’s really effective and amazing.

And the best thing is that Wechat has also succeeded to drill the work sphere to become a working tool like others more professional.

Wechat as an email platform

The instant messaging is so useful that people preferred to send message and documents on Wechat conversation as they did before with email. Email is becoming old school in China where everything needs to be fast.

No need to wait for your email server and gather all conditions to make the server work. In a country where people from 10 to 99 years old have a smartphone and used it for all, it’s more convenient to directly send your text and documents via Wechat and wait few seconds for an instant reply.

Wechat Call

On Wechat you can also call someone. You can use a normal call or a video call like on Skype or other platforms like that. In average, in China, users call during 100 minutes each day.

It’s very convenient because all over the world you can call your relatives using the Wifi even if you have not internet credit.

I explained to you the main communication functions of Wechat, now, we will see why Wechat is a multifunction app.

WECHAT WALLET

Wechat wallet is the new way to pay. It has never been so easy to do a transaction in China.

In China, everybody pays with their smartphone, money cash no longer exist. Now, you only need to scan a QR code to pay. It could be the QR code of a seller in a shop or online, a friend to transfer money after eating together, an electricity bill… and more other. Even small handcarts have their own QR code.

You can also pay your online shopping on wechat and book tickets, delivery services…

Last thing very popular in China, you can send a red pocket to your family. The red pocket is the most famous present in China. Chinese people receive their traditional hongbao for New Year. It’s a pocket with money inside. Today you can offer a virtual red pocket. (The red pocket is available all year, not only for NY)

Wechat in China is one of the best digital payment apps, it’s fast and convenient. In 2 seconds your payment is done. You only need to have enough battery on your smartphone ;).

WECHAT NEWS

As for lots of things in China, Newspaper and TV news are declining. A simple reason for that, most of the TV news and Newspapers are controlled by the Chinese Government.

Wechat encourages users to “be their own media outlet”. That’s why a lot of KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) and users decided to publish their own contents. And users really love it, they follow a lot of amateur accounts to have the last news.

In addition, with Wechat Wallet, you also can send a tip to the writer if you like his article, you only need to press a button to send your tip and encourage the creator.

It’s convenient for a population so connected to have all on the same app.

This new way to have information knew a big increase. A lot of writers are now not alone to write articles. They work in a team. It’s becoming a job to publish on Wechat and satisfy consumers. In the beginning, you could publish anonymous content but the government intervened and now it’s impossible to publish anonymous content. Government has to be able to trace the post.

Users really love Wechat news because the censorship is less present than on the other media.

A new thing will be implemented this year, Wechat opts for a new trend, the “pay to read”. It’s a new model to develop business. They also think that the content will be better if “journalists” are a bit paid. Some people disagree with that and think that it will, one more time, increase the gap between poor and rich about the access to information.

WECHAT ENTERTAINMENT

Wechat Game

On Wechat, you can play games. A lot of games are available on the app such as war games, strategy games, games for kids and more. These games are available on Wechat Mini-programs.

Lots of Chinese used it when they have free time like in the Subway, when they wait for a friend, in the queue…

The main goal of this is to share. You can play alone and share your score with your friends or you can invite some friends to play with you via the social media platform.

Their social features, the combination of speed and ease-of-installation make them extremely addictive.

Wechat Video

You can’t see videos as on streaming video platforms such as Youku but you can watch videos of brands on their page, friends’ moments, news… One more time, the videos are very appreciated because you can easily share the videos on the social media platform.

But, Tencent, the Wechat’s creator has its own video streaming platform. As on Youku, you can watch a lot of videos on Tencent Video: show, concert, Tv show, video clip…

Supporting Tencent Video login is through WeChat.

Wechat Music

You can listen to your favorite songs on other music apps such as QQ Music. QQ music is a Chinese music streaming and download service owned by Tencent one more time. The platform is very famous and used by a lot of people in China. The app has more than 800 million users.

You can listen to your song and after directly share the song on your Moments or to a friend by choosing someone in your contact list.

WECHAT MINI-PROGRAMS

I had already explained you some of this mini-programs: vidéo, music, games, e-commerce, but Wechat has a lot of others mini-programs apps.

I will show you some examples of that mini-programs.

Free Wifi Mini-Program

This mini-program allow you to connect you in public area in a place where you can’t always connect you to wifi. The mini-program has a database with passwords in China and allow you to connect you without using your own data.

Translator Mini-Program

Very useful in China to communicate. Chinese native speaker or Foreigner this mini-program is made for you. The Mini-Program allows you to translate in English or Mandarin with a voice recognition. You only need to speak in English or Mandarin and the translator translates your sentence to your interlocutor.

Research Mini-Program

This Mini-Program act like a kind of search engine. Type your term in Mandarin or in English and the Mini-Program will find your articles about that term.

Photo Album Mini-Program

You can create your own digital photos album and share it with your friend’s groups. For example after a party together. Your others friends are also able to add some other photos into the album.

The Mini-Program has also a facial recognition, really convenient to find all the photos of yourself or a friend when you have a lot of photos.

Tourist Guide Mini-Program

Chinese people travel more and more. They want to have a lot of information about their destination. This Mini-Program is the best answer to their demand. The guides are available in Chinese and also in English. You only need to scan a QR code to have to mp3 audio guide. Very convenient for the new world-travelers.

Bike Sharing Mini-Program

No longer need to use the apps of Mobike or Ofo. Use only the Bike Sharing Mini-Program of Wechat, it’s faster and more convenient than their original apps.

WECHAT E-COMMERCE

Wechat has to play with a big competitor: TaoBao.

But, Wechat is growing and will maybe dethrone the giant of the e-commerce. 31% of Chinese people do their shopping on apps. They have no time to go to shopping malls and they preferred to choose products online and sometimes go to the showroom of the brand to see in real. Online, you have time to do research, find the best product at the best price. So it’s really better.

If you are a brand, you have to create your Wechat mini-site. It will allow you to sell your products online. You need to create your Wechat Official Account and after you will be able to create your mini-site. It’s almost similar to your brand website. You can customize your page to make it comparable to your brand image.

When we talk about e-commerce on wechat, we also talk about Youzan and Weidian which are CMS which help you to manage your online shop. Your shop will use a lot of the Wechat functions such as payment, messages, sales all link with your Official Account.

The speed of the app allows consumers to do a lot of impulse purchase because all do to facilitate their purchasing experience.

But, to be really effective, you need to generate traffic and be visible by your target.

WECHAT AS THE NEW ID CARD

Wechat account is your new name card. You can put all your information on your Wechat Account. Besides, it’s really easy to share your profile with others. You can have your personal account but also a professional account with for examples your creations, your skills.. like a resume.

WECHAT THE SWISS-KNIFE OF COMPANIES

This article will never be complete if I don’t dedicate a part of the article to the company. Why is Wechat the best for you as a company or a brand?

Wechat is one of the best platforms in China for companies. You can’t longer ignore that. It’s the best place to communicate with your consumers. And in China, communication is the key to success.

Wechat Official Account

I explained to you that you first need to create your Official Account. See our article dedicated to the creation of the Wechat Official Account, it will help you. It’s not easy to create your Wechat Official Account, it will ask you to be patient. But when it will be done, it will be your front door of the Chinese market.

Wechat Mini-Site

Your Wechat Official Account allows you to create your mini-site to sell your goods. It a very important window for your brand. And because the purchase experience is very easy for consumers you need to use this advantage.

Be Visible

Create traffic on your Account will give you more awareness. You can generate traffic by publishing quality contents, Chinese consumers really love read quality contents. You can also publish pictures of users with your goods to encourage Chinese consumers to buy in your online shop. In China, consumers are very different than the other all over the world. They need to be reassured every time. They will only buy if some of their peers have bought before. You understand why it’s important to be present and communicate on their social media platform? Without visibility and trust, they will never buy your products.

Wechat H5

You are also able to advertise on Wechat. For that, Wechat created Wechat H5.

H5 allows you to include games, invites, animations, mobile shaking triggers and many other interactive things. The animations are very effective, because it allows you to create a lot of different styles and because Chinese consumers love animations.

It a very modern way to advertise.

In addition, H5 campaigns also allow users to post their own content, it creates more traffic and makes the campaign more powerful and engaging. Your consumer will feel included in your brand activities.

An other very interesting option for the company: with H5, you can track the data of people viewing your campaign. It’s a useful tool for your marketing strategy.

Wechat needs to be used as your company Website. It’s exactly the same goal but Wechat allow you to create a relationship with your consumers, to publish sharable contents, and to gain quickly in visibility.

I hope this article will help you to use all the Wechat tools at your disposal. Wechat is the most used social media app in China. If you want to develop your activity in China, you have to be present on the platforms that your target use. It’s not specific to Chinese market, it’s the same everywhere. To build the best marketing strategy, you need to understand your consumers, to be close of them and leverage their habits.

Wechat is really a key to market in China. If you want to know more about this amazing app or if you have any question feel free to contact our experts.

Need a WeChat Marketing Agency?

We are a marketing agency based in China and specialized in Social Media Marketing. We understand this complex landscape and we have the keys to help you to increase your Wechat Exposure or Engagement.

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